North Korea’s promise to abandon its nuclear weapons program and allow international inspections marks a significant breakthrough doubtful even a few days ago. It’s not the end of the journey to a nuclear-free North Korea, of course, but it’s an encouraging step that we hope will lead to progress in convincing Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions.
The agreement in Beijing was greeted with caution, given that North Korea has made a similar promise before, only to renege and cheat. In 1994, it signed an accord with the U.S., agreeing to dismantle its nuclear weapons program in exchange for oil and help building power-producing nuclear reactors. But in 2002, North Korea admitted it was running a uranium enrichment program in violation of the accord.
Monday’s agreement ended a fourth round of negotiations involving the U.S., China, South Korea, Japan and Russia aimed at establishing a set of principles for North Korea’s disarmament. (Three earlier rounds since 2003 failed). The parties will return in November to hammer out details.
President Bush called the agreement a “step forward in making this world a more secure place” and underscored that verification will be a key part of the agreement. In exchange for North Korea abandoning its civilian and military nuclear programs, parties to the agreement will provide energy and security to the impoverished country. The United States also agreed to respect North Korea’s sovereignty. In the past, President Bush labeled North Korea part of an “axis of evil” along with Iraq and Iran.
After Monday’s agreement, all eyes turned to Iran, which sounded an alarming note at the United Nations on Saturday. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed to press ahead with a nuclear program and berated the United States and Europe for trying to interfere. But yesterday, as the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency met in Vienna to study Iran’s nuclear program, Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA said Iran is “ready to fulfill the U.N.’s requests for more inspections.”
China worked to keep the North Korea talks on track. One expert, Jim Walsh of the Belfer Center at Harvard, credited both the Bush administration and North Korea officials with showing “maturity and flexibility.” He pointed to China’s exploding economy as North Korea’s impetus: “I think they look across the border at China. They see a country that’s growing powerful and stronger everyday economically,” and want to do the same, Walsh told CNN.
North Korea has isolated itself for years. The hope is that the nuclear agreement signals a more open and less bellicose chapter.
